CHAPTER XXII 

 PERENNIAL CROPS 



ASPARAGUS * 



Asparagus is the most important of the perennial crops. 

 After a plantation is once established, it produces a crop every 

 year without the necessity of replanting. This feature makes 

 asparagus a desirable vegetable to grow, for it is certain to produce 

 a crop even if the weather of spring is unfavorable for the early 

 planting of annual crops. The nature of the edible product also, 

 consisting, as it does, of the early vegetative shoots (Fig. 119), 

 renders crop failures impossible, for if the plant grows at all it 

 produces an edible product. The crop is not subject to destruc- 

 tion by frost, for in the advent of frost only those shoots that were 

 above ground and not yet of edible size would be affected, and no 

 single frost could destroy any large proportion of the crop. The 

 roots are extremely hardy and survive even the severest winters. 

 While the edible product is produced principally during cool 

 weather, the plants do not suffer from the heat of summer, and 

 are able to endure even excessive drought. 



Starting the Plantation. — An asparagus plantation is started 

 l:)y the planting of roots. These may be either one or two years 

 old. The one-year roots are preferable. They may be either 

 grown from seed by the prospective planter or purchased from a 

 seedsman. If a person decides to grow his own roots, the seed 

 should be sown in drills about one and one-half feet apart, early 

 in the spring. Since the seed germinates very slowly, it is wise to 

 sow a few radish seeds with it to mark the rows so that cultivation 

 may be started before the asparagus plants appear. Otherwise 

 it may be difficult to find the asparagus on account of weeds. 

 An additional precaution is to hasten germination by soaking the 

 seed in warm water for twenty-four hours before planting. 



The care of the asparagus seedlings consists in cultivating, 

 weeding and thinning, the same as onions or any similar crop 



* Adapted from a paper presented by the author at the Thirty-Sixth 

 Annual Meeting of the Southern Illinois Horticultural Society, November 

 24, 1909. 



13 193 



